News

Scottish business digest

Scotland’s 26 Chambers of Commerce are staging the only G8 business conference in Edinburgh on Friday, attended by chambers of commerce from Canada, Germany, Russia and across Britain. The main speakers at the Business Alliance Conference will be Alistair Darling, secretary of state, and James Smith, chairman of Shell UK.

Lees Foods, the makers of macaroon bars and snowballs, is expected to start trading on AIM next Wednesday, with 2m shares issued at an indicative price of 200p, valuing the company at £4m. The company, which has two plants, in Cambuslang and Coatbridge, is headed by Raymond Miquel.

PEARSON, the group that owns the Financial Times, has suffered a blow in efforts to buy out minority shareholders in Interactive Data Corporation, its financial information subsidiary. Pearson has been unable to agree a price with institutional investors in IDC, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.